THE FIRECROSSER, director Mykhailo Illienko, 2012. Feature narrative, 105 min. Ukraine’s official entry for the Oscar consideration in the Best Foreign Language Film category.
This melodrama is inspired by the real-life story of one Ivan Datsenko (Ivan Dodoka in the film), native of the village of Chernechyi Yar in central Ukraine. He becomes a fearsome fighter pilot during World War Two, earning the highest military distinction bestowed by Stalin. He escapes first from a Nazi and then Soviet concentration camps, flees to Canada, where – suspend your disbelief – Datsenko allegedly becomes the chieftain of an Iroquois tribe. This is the first in years Ukrainian film that received a national distribution and enjoyed an unprecedented box-office success in Ukraine.